Field of the Disclosure
This application generally relates to healthcare and providing a user interface for engagement in a healthcare program and related incentives.
Background of the Disclosure
Rising healthcare costs lead to a desire by payers (such as employers and insurers) that their members (such as employees and their families) become more engaged and participate more actively in managing their health. For example, if a pool of members includes a substantial fraction who are obese, there would be substantial costs associated with heart problems that could likely result. If these members, or even some of them, could be convinced to make healthy lifestyle changes, such as losing weight and increasing exercise, they would become healthier. This would have the effect that members develop fewer and less severe heart problems. Providers would be happier with a healthier member population. Payers would benefit with consequential reduction in cost.
A first known solution is for health insurers to educate members, encourage them to adopt healthy lifestyles, and remind them about activities that would assist in member healthcare. These can include a plethora of possibilities, such as posters, mailings, nurse response lines, reminder calls about appointments, and otherwise. While these activities can promote the general goal of raising member awareness of healthcare needs, they can be subject to some drawbacks. Members receiving the information may find it too complex, overly-diverse, contradictory or redundant. It sometimes occurs that members remain unaware of important healthcare issues or unresponsive due to members ignoring excessive efforts at member outreach by payers or due to the outreach being delivered through channels of which the member is unaware. It sometimes occurs that these techniques are not personalized to the member's particular healthcare needs. These techniques might also tend to frustrate members, have high costs, and produce relatively minimal outcomes.
A second known solution is for members to seek out healthcare information, such as by using the Internet or one (or more) of the many healthcare applications (sometimes called “apps”) available for smartphones, tablets, or other computing devices. Members can sometimes obtain a relatively large amount of information from search engines, health and wellness portals, health and wellness applications, and from email and other communication with payers. While these activities also can also promote the general goal of raising member awareness of healthcare needs, they are also subject to some drawbacks. Similar to the first known solution, it sometimes occurs that members receive information that is too complex, overly-diverse, contradictory or redundant, and it sometimes occurs that members remain unaware of or unresponsive to important healthcare issues. Moreover, these techniques sometimes lead to members obtaining or believing healthcare information that is erroneous, not up to date, or misleading.
A third known solution is for members to obtain healthcare information directly from providers during visits. For example, a member might get advice from their doctor about keeping their cholesterol level down, while at a regular checkup. While this can also promote the general goal of raising member awareness of healthcare solutions, it is also subject to some drawbacks. It sometimes occurs that the doctor has many other patients scheduled for that day, and so cannot take the time for a proper review. The doctor may be focused on the specific issues the member arrived for, and so cannot take the time to review the member's longitudinal history. In some cases the member's questions would be better addressed by a different medical professional, such as a nutritionist. In this latter case, the member is burdened with having to schedule yet another appointment, at a different time and possibly a different facility, with the effect of frustrating the member and reducing the likelihood of the member becoming engaged in their own healthcare.
Each of these examples, as well as other possible considerations, can cause difficulty in healthcare aspects including costs, quality, outcomes, and engaging members in actively managing their own healthcare.